You might say that I’m bound to say this but…email marketing is a bit of a no-brainer for tough economic times – it is highly measurable, can be highly targeted and exerts less budgetary pressure than most other DM disciplines. The smartest brands have grasped this and are devoting more time to the channel but, while they are recognising its importance, many are still failing to target their mails and segment their databases effectively. Recent Forrester research showed that 19% of email marketers are still sending a single generic version of an email to their entire contact list while 26% will only divide their list by a single dimension. Put simply, by doing so these marketers are systematically reducing their chances of delivering high returns.
Segmentation is a word that can often provoke fear in the minds of those that hear it – seeming as it does to carry connotations of all sorts of impenetrable IT and data processes. The truth is, however, that with just a little time marketers can segment their email distribution lists into target audiences using data they don’t even know they’re capturing. The key is knowing where to look. Broadly speaking, there are six places:
A customer’s e-mail behaviour:
The most easily available information is the number of opens, clicks and link-levels your emails get. These simply indicate which subscribers are most interested in your message enabling you to market to them individually, targeting specific topics of interest.
A customer’s profile:
In addition to asking them directly, you could determine your customer’s profile information (such as location, name, and professional title) from other data. A favourite store can give you an idea of their geographic location while a purchase history of childcare goods can be a pretty good indicator of a parent/family.
A customer’s preferences:
Successful email marketing is all about allowing the audience to dictate the details of the communication. The best way of doing this is simply to ask how often they would like to be contacted and what content is most relevant to them.
A customer’s online behaviour:
Simply identifying those customers that have recently purchased, browsed or abandoned a shopping cart can help you generate additional revenue and build relationships. Emails alerting customers to items they left in their shopping cart or a goodwill ‘Thank you for your purchase’ messages can be highly effective.
A customer’s offline data:
It is vital to account for offline customer behaviour and purchase data. This also enables you to provide personalised information in future campaigns such as special promotions tied to a local store, preferred airport, or destination.
Data from Poll/Surveys:
These are useful tools to gauge what different audience segments want. You can use data from polls or surveys to inform decisions on making a change or assembling an offer. For example, ask customers ‘what new feature would you like to see in a monthly newsletter?’, ‘how would you rate the company’s online programmes?’, or ‘how often would you like to receive promotional emails?’
Some or all of these different sources of data are available to most marketers but, of course, simply gathering the data is not enough. Once you have identified what your customers actually want it is essential that you can make this data ‘actionable’, in other words ensure you are actually able access it quickly for timely execution.
Simone Barratt, MD e-Dialog
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http://www.mailvivo.co.uk Jake Holman
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http://www.emailresponsibly.com Ben
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Simone Barratt
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